Tag Archives: science & technology

Raising Water Productivity to Increase Food Security

Image credit: stevendepolo /Flickr With water shortages constraining food production growth, the world needs an effort to raise water productivity similar to the one that nearly tripled land productivity over the last half-century. Since it takes 1,000 tons of water to produce 1 ton of grain, it is not surprising that 70 percent of world water use is devoted to irrigation. Thus, raising irrigation efficiency is central to raising water productivity overall. … Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Raising Water Productivity to Increase Food Security

How to Grow an Edible School Garden

Image credit: Good Planting, tending, and harvesting a garden teaches young students the value of the soil, the delicacy of plants, and the joy a few hours of dirty work can bring. It can also help supplement those woefully unbalanced school lunches everyone has been talking about . In this vein, Good offers a quick guide to starting an edible school garden…. Read the full story on TreeHugger

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How to Grow an Edible School Garden

How About 90% More Efficient Air Conditioning?

Photo: Pat Corkery/NREL Evaporative Cooling + Drying with Desiccants = 90% More Efficient A/C As Lloyd and other sensible people keep pointing out , if our buildings and cities were better designed, we would need a lot less air conditioning, and in many cases none at all. That should be goal #1. But because it’s doubtful that’s ubiquitous A/C is going away any time soon, it can’t hurt to make the technology more efficient (keeping buildings cool is using about 5% of the energy used in th… Read the full story on TreeHugger

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How About 90% More Efficient Air Conditioning?

Transforming DIY Player is Your All-in-One Gadget

Images via Yanko Design A cool concept device from designer Shao Wen highlights a feature we love in greener gadgets – upgradability in an all-in-one device. With keyboards that swap in and out, the device transforms from cell phone to media player to gaming device and practically anything else you could want when you want it. While many devices already do this without the need to swap keyboards, they leave out the option for upgrading or replacing only the component that is broken. This concept solves that problem. … Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Transforming DIY Player is Your All-in-One Gadget

Video Conferencing Can Save $19 Billion, 5.5 Million Tons of CO2

Photo by Scottfeldstein A new report by by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and sponsored by AT&T has revealed that videoconferencing can mean huge savings for companies, both in money and carbon footprints. According to the report, adding a telepresence to their repertoire can mean U.S. and U.K. businesses “cut CO2 emissions by nearly 5.5 million metric tons in total…and achieve total economy-wide financial benefits of almost $19 billion, by 2020.” As businesses are forced to cut back drastically in both areas to survive the latest economic… Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Video Conferencing Can Save $19 Billion, 5.5 Million Tons of CO2

NASA Says Moon May Have More Water than the Great Lakes

Credit: Nasaimages.org . The U.S. Great Lakes have some competition. The moon. Yes, that old thing in the sky may hold more than all of the water contained in the Great Lakes, according to a NASA-funded study. Water bottling companies and thirsty-but-dry states are already scurrying to find ways of bringing the H2O back to Earth. Think of the money that could be made. “Moon Water: It’s out of this world.” … Read the full story on TreeHugger

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NASA Says Moon May Have More Water than the Great Lakes

Voluntary Carbon Market Value Slashed in Half by 2009 Recession

photo: Eric Schmuttenmaer via flickr We know that the Great Recession of 2008 & 2009 helped many nations slash their carbon emissions and lower deforestation rates–decidedly good things–but it also slashed in half the value of the voluntary carbon market , a new report by Ecosystem Marketplace shows…. Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Voluntary Carbon Market Value Slashed in Half by 2009 Recession

Why Won’t the Media Report the Link Between Global Warming and Extreme Storms?

A flooded neighborhood in Nashville, TN. Photo via Gulf News A surprising number of regions in the US have been struck by extreme deluges this year: among them, Tennessee, Oklahoma, New England, Georgia. The events have been tragic, with lives lost and cities paralyzed. And if it weren’t for a certain oily catastrophe, we’d probably be hearing a lot more about them. But we still likely wouldn’t be hearing about the connection between such weather events and global warming…. Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Why Won’t the Media Report the Link Between Global Warming and Extreme Storms?

Connecticut Becomes 24th State to Put e-Waste Recycling Into Law

Photo by cjb Thankfully, we’ve seen a rush of states adding new e-waste regulations and laws to their books, most recently with New York and hot on the heals of that news comes word that Connecticut will be the 24th US state to put enact an electronics recycling law, starting this fall. Gadget manufacturers will have to take note — Connecticut will require manufacturers to front the cost of transport and recycling of the equipment. As it becomes… Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Connecticut Becomes 24th State to Put e-Waste Recycling Into Law

Understanding the Smart Grid: What’s Great and What’s Wrong with Electricity 2.0 (Video)

Photo by nicholas_t What exactly is the smart grid, why don’t we have it, and when will we? For most Americans, the smart grid is a mystery. That’s part of the reason why there is some bubbling hostility toward smart meter installation projects in many places, and smart grid pilot projects happening in (relatively) so few. Tom Raftery of GreenMonk is an expert on the smart grid. He took t… Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Understanding the Smart Grid: What’s Great and What’s Wrong with Electricity 2.0 (Video)